U2360° TOURLeg 2: 2010

Edinburgh show - Five countries in one day

02 September 1997

Edinburgh show - Five countries in one day

Edinburgh show - Five countries in one day. Diana spectre continues to haunt proceedings while the band head for New York for the MTV awards.

Edinburgh showday, and the longest day in living memory. The spectre of Diana permeates all things, with anger and blame surfacing and being variously apportioned to the paparazzi, the royal family, the driver, the hotel, etc, etc. Britain is setting up camp in central London, abandoning its routines, leaving normal life behind to make pilgrimages to the books of condolence and makeshift shines at various sites. The volume of flowers outside Kensington Palace is humbling to the point of tears.

Rock and roll is full of long days, but this was unique even for us, in that we landed in FIVE countries in the space of one day. Lunch in Dublin, by plane to Edinburgh for the show, leaving immediately after to head for the MTV awards. We leave Scotland on Air-Lemon, stopping twice to refuel in Iceland and Canada, before landing in New York. Met at Newark airport by a fleet of cars, though a dust-pan-and-brush might have been more appropriate. The private plane is comfortable, but doesn't have the fuel capacity of a 747, so it takes a while to cross the Atlantic.

Evening rehearsal for the MTV awards at Radio City Music Hall. Dog tired. To bed in New York City. Didn't we wake up in Dublin and do a show in Scotland? Princess Diana looks at us from every direction, in every country we go to. I think it must be Wednesday now.